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It was day that was bad and good for Jai Hindley. Bad in that he lost time and one position on the general classification and crashed during the stage. Good, in that it could have been much, much worse, and indeed it was for a lot of riders.
The Australian was part of the mass crash at the start of the stage, with his race bib shorts ripped around the upper thigh. He got off lightly compared to other riders in the general classification conversation, with Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) and Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich) both leaving the race due to injuries sustained from falls.
Hindley appeared comfortable enough until the final climb, but had to contend without team support after Emanuel Buchmann was the final rider dropped on the Col de la Ramaz.
Hindley lasted with the infernal pace set by Jumbo-Visma, then UAE Team Emirates on the Col de Joux Plane until 5.5 kilometres remained of the ascent, when he started to drop away. He formed up with Felix Gall to chase, but the AG2R-Citroen rider wasn’t able to be of much help. Hindley battled into the finish to take sixth on the stage, 1’46 behind Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) and is now fourth overall just one second behind the young Spaniard.
“Not the best day I’ve had to be honest,” said Hindley. “There was this big crash I was involved in along with a lot of other guys and then they neutralised the race, which was good. I hope the guys that were involved are all right.”
“It was just a super brutal day with some epic climbs. I had quite a bit of pain in… my arse, actually, which wasn’t ideal, but that’s the way it is.”
The big question will be whether the injury continues to hamper Hindley in the upcoming stages, with another big battle expected among the GC riders for stage 15 before the rest day.
“I think it’s more internal muscle, it’s quite sore at the moment, but it’s all good," said Hindley. "Hopefully, we can sort it out in the next few days. Every time I was out of the saddle it was… not the best, but it is what it is."
The silver lining from the day is that Hindley's rivals for 3rd overall have actually reduced in number, with Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) all losing considerably more time than the Australian, meaning that it's mostly between Rodriguez, Hindley and Yates for the final position on the podium.
